Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/140

124 long disuse, great was his surprise to find some richly and comfortably furnished, and others in which were coffers filled with silver and gold, and other treasures collected from different parts of the world.

As he walked through a corridor that led to a darkened chamber, suddenly a young and beautiful maiden glided past him, so slight, and pale, and wan that she seemed more like a fleeting shadow. He turned back and followed her until he overtook her, and addressed her thus: "Dear lady, allow me to address and ask you why you are here, a place in which I only expected to find witches or sorcerers, wandering through these dismal passages, busy with their spells?"

To this she replied, timidly at first, but soon reassured by the young man's appearence, "Stranger, from my infancy I have been kept enchanted in this tower, I know not why. And I have for my only companion an old decrepit man, who has some trouble which causes him great anguish and suffering. His continual sighs and groans give me much uneasiness, and it nearly breaks my heart to see him so unhappy. I have no one to commune with, or who can cheer me in my loneliness. Be not surprised, stranger, if I tell you that I hail your presence here with delight and joy. I feel that you are to me here like a ray of light piercing my dark dismal soul, and to part from you would be death to me. Leave me not, I pray you."